Church to dish out drive-thru dinner

By MADELINE REIDA

Staff writer

Hillsboro United Methodist Women are holding their annual turkey dinner from 5 to 7 p.m. Nov. 5 at Hillsboro United Methodist Church.

Turkey, dressing, potatoes, gravy, green beans, a roll, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie will be served.

The dinner is by donation. Proceeds go towards disaster relief, mission projects, a youth program in Newton, and other projects.

First held in November of 1989, the dinner was canceled last year because of the pandemic.

“This year, it was really important that we did it somehow,” fellowship member Debi Hughbanks said. “It’ll be the whole church together again doing stuff for the whole community, and that’s where we have a lot of our fellowship.”

The church is taking precautions against COVID by not having indoor seating: instead, a drive-through will be established at the church doors. Guests may eat outside, in their cars, or at home.

“You can pull into the car line, somebody will get with you and find out how many dinners you need, then they’ll give it to you in your car,” Hughbanks said. “Then you can go home and eat your dinner.”

The dinner serves between 500 and 700 people, and once fed the Hillsboro High School football team at a home game. Church members use their own ovens to roast between 22 and 24 total turkeys for the dinner. Other volunteers make gravy, bake pies, or help with cleanup.

“Everybody in the church pitches in somehow, whether it’s cooking turkeys or washing dishes,” Hughbanks said.